[ children laughing ] every time you purchase a fishing license or register your boat, you're helping to preserve our nation's coastlines, lakes, rivers, and streams, protecting memories for generations to come. learn how your participation in boating and fishing can help the environment at... >> alisyn: good early morning, everyone. i'm alisyn camerota in for gresham carlson. hurricane irene leaving behind billions of damage and millions of families in the dark this morning. now, the trouble moves inland, floods now far worse than anticipated. >> steve: man, look at those pictures. meanwhile, airlines will be busy today untangling what a mess of their own. travelers strangsded with

nothing to do but wait. will they fly today or tomorrow or the next day? stay tuned. >> brian: and, just one of the incredible scenes from hurricane irene. a lifeguard shack gets watched away in long beach, new york. we will have the story and hear from one of the lifeguards coming up. "fox & friends" starts right now. captions by closed captioning services [rooster crowing] >> alisyn: good morning, everybody, thanks for joining us bright and early. we are up early to give you the aftermath of irene. she wreaked a lot of havoc in and around new york city. new york city not so much. connecticut, jersey, upstate new york a the love damage this morning. >> steve: indeed. good morning ali and brian: how he was impacted directly by irene. brian and i are appearing today via no electricity at our homes,

limited water. this is like the pioneer days. >> alisyn: that explains a few things. >> brian: reminds me when we used to watch that old video when the cave men did the news. had to sponge themselves off, move the rock and go out and broadcast? >> steve: what channel do you get? [ laughter ] >> alisyn: you guys are troopers to be here without electricity as so many people share your pain this morning. the threat of irene now moving inland. we have some incredible new flood video to show you. take a look at these raging watters out of bennington, vermont as the road is completely flooded. the state is seeing some of the worst flooding yet in the capital. officials are urging hundreds of people to leave their homes. they might have to flood that city on purpose. >> steve: look at that. >> alisyn: in order to save a nearby dam that's overflowing. they hope the rain let's up, of course and a disaster plan does not have to be activated. >> steve: those are really incredible pictures. all right. now we're going to bring you some of the latest numbers from irene.

the death toll rising overnight to 21 people. the latest fatality is reported in new york, new jersey, and pennsylvania. falling debris and floodwaters have caused most of the deaths. many folks left stranded from their homes as rescue crews tried bringing them to safety. no word on how many injuries. >> brian: all right. this comes as much of the northeast is still without power. at least 6 million people from south carolina over to maine are living with the lights off and so much more. that includes about half of the state of rhode island. in new york, several hospitals are left without electricity. that shouldn't happen. crews are working to reestablish power but is going to be a while, we're told. meantime, state leaders are starting to tour the damage left behind by irene. governors chris christie of new jersey and tom corbett of pennsylvania got an upclose look at the wreckage. total damage across the east coast could run well past $7 billion. you have got to wonder fema says they are out of money. who is paying that?

>> steve: sounds like they are going to move some money around that's already been appropriated because they have obviously got to do something. >> alisyn: take money from tornado victims from, say, job minute, missouri and move it to the victims of this. >> brian: go out and check with rick reichmuth now. he is our chief meteorologist working around the clock. right now in long beach, new york. we saw some of that footage, rick, of the lifeguard stand and we knew it came ashore around there. what are you seeing even though it's dark? >> rick: yeah, you know, long beach is one the harvardest hit areas there is a lot of damage come out of here. i want to show you that in a second. first, i want to go and take a look at wyndham, new york. so many areas inland dealing with devastating flooding right now and communities have a very, very scary night. wyndham, new york, a beautiful town in the scat -- cat skills. it took on a lot of rain in a short amount of time. 8 to 10 hours. get so much rain in a mountainous terrain and it

causing massive flooding. community inundated. roads ripped out and bridges knocked out by other buildings that hit the bridges and then knocked those out. people there dealing with all of the flooding and then the winds came. the winds came after the rains stopped. so power then done gone. residents doing with a rough night, very scary night for people. still dark and still no power. images of this flooding, i tell you, coming from this town in wyndham but towns and communities all over the northeast across a number of states that are going to wake up in this coming morning to some very, very scary sites. >> alisyn: rick, we have been talking about coastal communities what about inland, like vermont? >> rick: yeah. exactly. wyndham is far inland and then bennington, vermont is another town in the southwest corner of vermont, a spectacular town, but spectacular because it's got all of these hills. when you get around 10 to

12 inches of rain falling in hills, it doesn't sit all across the entire area. it runs down into the streams and fills up those little canyons and valleys. and we're seeing all kinds of pictures coming from numerous places across inland areas. vermont, you know, people think of your coastal towns getting hit by a hurricane. and they don't realize what can happen to them. but, with rainfall amounts, with tropical moisture like this, these are the images that we are seeing now and stories coming out from this. >> steve: rick, you are in long beach right now yesterday during special "fox & friends," we watched as that lifeguard stand rammed into the board walk right there the images. they had done their best to pile sand up using the days before in anticipation but it didn't work sun up they are going to start picking up the pieces. >> rick: you said it we are right here exactly on the other side of the board walk.

and that lifeguard stand was on the other side of this. i'm not sure if you can see but there is a little tunnel here that comes in under the board walk. >> steve: yep. like. >> rick: right there came the storm surge. we saw it yesterday. right now it's pure mud. they piled some of the sands that came through here. this is sand from the beach that washed in underneath that tunnel into this area of the parking lot there is a hotel right over here that took in a bunch of water on the lower level and flooded. and now they are in the process of cleaning this up. i can tell you in the drive here this morning also a number of areas here across this long beach community still don't have power. so we're 24 hours or about 18 hours from when the storm came here and still no power for many of the people here. >> steve: rick reichmuth long beach there in new york. we thank you very much. >> brian: the place where billie crystal grew up. >> alisyn: thank you for that long island trivia.

nice. meanwhile, hurricane irene may have left town but her wrath can be felt for days. especially if you are trying to get on a flight today. one hour from now jfk and newark air airport will aopen for arrivals only. departures will begin at noon. laguardia will reopen to both arrivals and departures at 7:00 a.m. delays and cancellations are still expected. >> brian: near all of subway lines should up and running at 6:00 p.m. the first shut down in the city's history. amtrak train traveling across the northeast. all service from boston to philadelphia cancelled. your best bet is to call amtrak or check their web site. >> alisyn: incredible how random the hurricane's path was. in manhattan proper. at least upper manhattan, it was not even a heavy rainstorm. i mean, there have been worse

storms. but then all surrounding it, connecticut, new jersey, long island, your part, i mean just drenched and deadly for people. >> steve: indeed. meanwhile, those power outages in long island being called catastrophic. let's go to adam housley is he in newport, rhode island with the latest. good morning, adam. >> good morning. still people in the northeast without power and winds gusting in some cases knocking down trees. if you drive around the area here before the sun went down last night, you will see trees down everywhere. significant damage that's caused a lot of people to have no power and no way to get back home. along the water front we saw some damage to the sea walls. maybe the rain didn't come to some parts of the new england area as it did as bad in other places at least here in the riled area and western part of massachusetts it was all about the high wind and tide. we were out yesterday as parts of the storm moved through and here is what we found. >> hurricane irene has been

downgraded. it's battling the coast of newport, rhode island. it's extremely rough out there right now. there is not much rain. it's mostly high surf and wind coming ashore. most people didn't listen. you can see this house here all boarded up. people left. as you go around inside to newport, harbor, this too is mostly evacuated and people listened to authorities. here is one police officer right here. another one coming by right now. you can make sure this ocean front evacuated as irene battered the area. again, while irene could have been much worse for the new england states. still causing billions of dollars in damage and still a lot of people without power it may be a few days before everybody gets it back. back to you in new york. >> steve: adam housley live in newport, rhode island. thank you very much. >> alisyn: let's get to the rest of your headlines this morning because the man the police call hurricane killer found dead after apparently killing his gun

on himself. army captain is accused of killing ex-wife, her boyfriend and his son and ex-mother-in-law as hurricane irene hit the east coast. several neighborhoods in pennsylvania were put on lockdown until his body was found in the woods. he recently returned from his third deployment to iraq and afghanistan. lockerbie bomber al-megrahi is reportedly near death again. reports say he is at a n. a coma at his home in tripoli. there is no doctor available sings the rebels took over tripoli. he was released from prison, you will remember, on the grounds he was near death that was in 2009. calls for him to return to scotland. they will not extradite a lib ban citizen to the west. president obama will reportedly not nominate a new chairman to the chairman of the economic advisors today. labor economist alan krueger. assistant secretary for the first two years of the president's administration and also a chief economist at the

labor department during the clinton administration. krueger's nomination expected to be confirmed by the senate. happy feet is home ward bound. the wayward penguin finally left the zoo for his home in ant articca. the poor penguin got sick on a beach there back in june. he likely ate sand that he mistook for snow. >> brian: that's the penguin that ate the sand. >> alisyn: happy sand will be released after four days at sea. >> brian: becoming the new pan davment penguin story every day. >> steve: cuddly. coming up, we are up an hour early to tell you about stuff like this. they swore to stand guard no matter what the conditions. soldiers brave irene to watch over the tomb of the unknowns. we will tell that you story coming up. >> brian: then, unbelievable rescue. there is a guy stranded on that sailboat. the firefighters only have one choice, swim there and pull him

to safety. one of those firefighters here live. >> alisyn: more incredible images from irene. ♪ ♪

>> brian: virginia couple attempting to outrun hurricane irene in their sailboat over the weekend found themselves in 45 mile-per-hour wind gusts in the chesapeake bay. rescuers forced to swim to the boat in order to pull the couple to safety and safety is where they ended up. one of those daring rescuers jeff whitea of norfolk fire and rescue joins us this morning. jeff, unbelievable heroic act. you can describe the scene where you found yourself on shore looking in that sailboat that was once out at sea? >> yeah. it was out at sea anchored. and we were standing ashore and then all of a sudden as it

slipped its anchor point, started coming ashore, that's when our higher people decided to go ahead and launch the swimmers. troy and i went ahead and entered the water. as the boat came up on shore, tori went ahead and entered the boat and i was outside to help facilitate the rescue. >> brian: he went into the boat. when you say outside, you mean holding on to the boat on the outside? >> yeah. i was on the outside of the boat and troy rams actually climbed inside the boat to help the people because they were in the front, in the bough of the boat. so they were -- he was able to help the people get out of the boat and i was able to get them off the boat. >> brian: what were they like when you saw them? what were they like once you got them to shore? >> the mayle male, he seemed to be doing really well. he was not so shaken up but the female, she was pretty shaken up over the situation. from what troy said, he pretty much had to coax her out of the front of the boat to get her to climb out.

>> brian: jeff, not one to judge, you were just there to rescue. have you found out what they were thinking trying to outrun the storm? >> no, i do not. i understand they might have had some mechanical issues and they were forced to set anchor at that point. >> brian: and they did. and they did have issues. so, when you look back at the adrenaline that you felt then and as you look back later, what is it about guys like you that thrive in situations like that? >> it's not about thriving. it's just about helping people. and, you know, every day the city of norfolk, we put out 113 people on the streets. and everyone is dedicated to the same goal that i am, to help people being, no matter here with called on to do. we are going to help somebody out. >> brian: wow. and in times of hurricane, you don't evacuate, you act. jeff whiter, a firefighter norfolk fire and rescue. good job. thanks so much for saflg them.

>> thanks so much for having us. >> brian: you got a thank you from them, right? >> oh yes, we did. >> brian: great and to your partner. thanks a lot, jeff. >> you are welcome. >> brian: meanwhile, we forge ahead. no religious leaders allowed at this year's 9/11 ceremony. is god getting a boot from ground zero?here time to changee decision? protecting the tomb of the unknown. the

9/11 memorial ceremony. joining us now is the man who organized the interfaith ceremony following 9/11 at yankee stadium. former deputy mayor of new york city rudy washington. mr. washington, thanks so much for being here. how do you interpret what mayor bloomberg is doing in not allowing clergy to be involved in this? >> well, i haven't spent much

time trying to figure it out. i have been troubled over the years, not just with politics but presidential politics. with everybody being politically correct and being so concerned about being politically correct, to the point now i don't think it's an accident that you begin to hear so many people talk about founding fathers. and i think those kind of conversations happen when people lose their way. >> steve: right. >> natural instinct is to go back to fundamentals and try to, you know like math, something wrong, you go back to the very beginning. and you are hearing people not realizing it but they are saying to america it's time to go back to our very foundation. judeo christian values and try to figure out what we got wrong. this only represents, to me, probably a -- silence of the religious community. going back to taking prayers out of school. >> steve: sure. and trying to get in god we trust off of money.

>> sure and 10 commandments. >> steve: after 9/11 you ran a great big interfaith ceremony at yankee stadium. we watched it on tv. it fantastic. the mayor says no religion at the upcoming september the 11th commemoration. although they say we have never had spiritual leaders there. >> well, let me say. this so there is no ambiguity. i think it's flat out wrong, all right? >> steve: it's a day of reflection. >> a dave reflection. i think he is wrong. i have not speculated to why he is doing this. as i talk to clergy people, i hear people say why he is doing it whether it's true or not, i don't know. >> steve: what are they telling you? >> i'm hearing talk about sensitivity to the ground zero mosque, in which case it makes me think the white house may have something to say in this, you know, the president being there and not wanting this issue to come up. but as an american, like i said, this political correct argument and where does my rights stop

and someone else's start? >> alisyn: let me tell you what the mayor's office says. they have put out a statement. religious leaders or others are free to hold such an event. the focus. >> steve: of their own. start your own. al at focus of this commemoration ceremony is on the family members of those who died. one of the explanations given, rudy, is that if you let a christian clergy member speak then you have to let a jewish clergy member speak and then let a muslim clergy member speak and it will get longer and longer and more complicated. what do you say to that? >> nonsense. shear nonsense. >> steve: give everybody two minutes. >> like i said in opening before we went on the air, it doesn't have to even be my religion. i go to church every sunday. it could be a rabbi that speaks for all of us. bishop doll land but someone and the community of faith can choose amongst themselves who they want to do with the major churches. i understand if you said well,

we can't have all these people speak. you know, i would agree with them because it was a long program. but, you know, during 9/11 we weren't concerned whether the program was one hour or four hours. >> steve: sure. >> it was more four hours. >> steve: we will find out what will happen because the commemoration is two weeks from yesterday. it will be on a sunday. let's see if any spiritual leaders are there. rudy washington former deputy mayor here in new york city. thanks so much for getting up so early. >> my pleasure. i wish you had me back and can i get time to develop this argue maniment. >> alisyn: thank you. next on the run down a little boy suspended because his hair was way too long. should his school really get a say in this? we report, you decide. >> steve: that's too long? man, am i old. then they are stationed here to save lives. imagine what the lifeguards were thinking when their command center kaboom got swept away. that's it. that big white house. >> alisyn: beyonce makes a big announcement to steal the entire show at the video music awards.

>> brian: your shot of the morning. the wrath of hurricane irene no matt match for the sental guarding the tomb of the unknown soldier. soldiers from the infantry regiment known as the old guard from watched over the tomb every second of every day since april 6th, 1948 regardless of the weather. hurricane irene included. >> steve: that's right.

these two pictures were put on the -- let's see the third infantry regiment's facebook page. here it is at the height of the storm in arlington, virginia just across the river from virginia. >> alisyn: amazing. >> steve: east coast may have said so long to irene the dangers could get worse. we have live coverage across the coast this morning. first we head to washington, d.c. with the presidential response. good morning dougland. >> there is the danger and cost to all of this. irene may be winding down. one estimate says the path of the destruction could cost $7 billion. raising eyebrows in congress. will have to ask to fill the covers when washington is not in the mood to spend money. president obama emerged from the white house saying there is still a long way to go. >> i do want to underscore that the impacts of this storm will be felt for some time. and the recovery effort will

last for weeks or longer. power may be out for days in some areas and we will support our state and local partners in every way that we can as they work to restore power in those areas. >> weeks or longer. weeks for clean up, weeks for rebuilding and all of this coming at enormous price to individuals, communities, and, of course, the federal government. fema in particular is not exactly swimming in cash. and while fema has plenty of backers here in congress, it also has a number of critics who say the agency has been mismanaged and distorts the insurance market and comes as fema is looking closely at that time another tropical depression that is brewing out in the atlantic. steve, brian, and alisyn? >> steve: doug, live in d.c., thanks very much. >> alisyn: thanks, doug. >> brian: concerned about w. how they look. i'm not saying they have to do all of this stuff. local and national politicians realize their careers could be

made or broken on this. >> steve: how many times did we see michael bloomberg of mayor of new york in the last 72 hours. the last logistical nightmare in new york city was that great big blizzard when he was in bermuda. and he has taken a pounding for it he was on tv whenever somebody would turn a camera on. >> alisyn: of course now is he getting criticized for beginning ginning up too much concern when it bypassed. >> steve: lives were probably saved by people getting out of way of the big storm. >> alisyn: absolutely. the people took it ear justly. rest of the headlines. park rangers are still scouring yellow stone national park for a grizzly bear they believe killed a hiker over the weekend. police say they found bear tracks near the man's body. now an autopsy is planned to determine whether the animal actually attacked him or just disturbed his body. >> steve: the search for missing indiana university student lauren spierer kicking into high gear again as the school year starts there her parents robert

and charlene sphere have returned to bloomington from their new york home vowing to stay until they find their daddy daughter. they are hanging posters as part of a renewed effort to figure out what happened to the 20-year-old. she disappeared on june the 3rd while walking home after a night out. >> brian: all right. this 6-year-old now facing inschool suspension for having his hair too long. school administrators say shan violated school policy that requires students to have their hair neat, clean and well-groomed. the mom plans to suspension and making sure he has the right to. he is growing his hair for locks of love for kids that have cancer. >> alisyn: oh my gosh. i hope the school reconsiders this. >> brian: sobers up. >> alisyn: beyonce and her baby bump stole the show at the mtv. she is pregnant and cradle ling

her belly telling reporters i have a surprise. >> i want you to feel the love that's growing inside of me. hey, hey, whoo, whoo. >> alisyn: she is still dancing her booty off. look at this. after performing her new hit love on top. beyonce opened her jacket and proudly rubbed her baby bump. her husband jay-z celebrating in the audience. it's their first child. so cute. >> that's nice. >> shepard: katy perry took home video of the year for fireworks. accepted the trophy wearing pink hair and cube on her head. maybe she doesn't know it's up there. she is like did something just hit me in the head? >> brian: sometimes i hear women work out with rollers in their hair. >> alisyn: i have done it. >> brian: or rolling pin.

>> alisyn: apron in i'm not actually hazel. >> steve: congratulations to jay-z and beyonce. >> brian: those two need a baby. >> steve: legacy of hurricane irene this morning is flooding. what a rainmaker. we saw this video yesterday of the tower smashing into the board walk. now let's go back to fox news chief meteorologist rick reichmuth who is in long beach, new york right next to that lifeguard station. good morning to you, rick. >> rick: good morning, guys. something to see. i saw the video yesterday of the water rushing in across the beach here into the tunnel and the streets flooding and this lifeguard tower that was knocked off of its platform and banged up here against the board walk. now you are still seeing it here this morning. people in this area having to figure out exactly how they kind of clean up the community hit. a lot of flooding in people's lower levels of their homes as water rushed in kind of to the

first avenue that cuts along here. i'm really struck this morning at how far out the ocean is and -- or how kind of wide this beach is or how deep this beach is yesterday, having seen the water completely up here. of course, the storm coming in at right coinciding with high tide and that making matters worse waves on top of that so now they have got the clean up efforts and this lifeguard stand was very dramatic seeing that move yesterday. now it's stuck in the sand, just not where it started, guys. >> alisyn: rick, we will be talking to one of the lifeguards on duty and watching their station float away. but tell us what happened in elms ford, new york with all the rescues. >> yeah. i tell you, such an amazing story of such quick rains falling across the interior sections. and now we are seeing the video coming out of this. it takes a while sometimes to get an idea of all the damage. in elms ford, new york all kinds of rescues having been carried out as people trapped in their

homes. water rising so quickly people having to get in kayaks and boats and going door to door and rescue people from their homes and fortunately able to do so safely but under really treacherous circumstances of water rising. flash flooding is so concerning. it's called flash flooding because it happens in a flash. people don't realize the water is coming up that quickly. especially across the hilly and mountainous terrain across interior sections of the northeast. here in elmsford, new york people doing heroic efforts to rescuing people. that likely continuing this morning. of course, the rain still falling last night when daylight was going away and then power going out. and so they have had a re rough night and this morning things are going to be very scary for people. >> rick, even though the rain for the most part is stopping across the northeast, that doesn't mean the flooding is stopping. some of these rivers threaten the new york city area and connecticut and new jersey have not yet crested. >> rick: they haven't. and they are going to crest within the next day or so and in

some cases stay at that high level for a day or two. many cases we get a lot of flooding in the northeast in these rivers, especially with the spring that you, but, in this case, we are going to be seeing rivers at highest ever levels. higher than they have ever seen from this storm. >> steve: rick reichmuth live from the shore in new york. we thank you very much. we will be checking with him all morning long. >> brian: chris christie, the governor of new jersey, said now this is becoming a flooding story, no longer a hurricane story. >> steve: he is right. >> alisyn: meanwhile, should american judges follow only american laws? our next guest wants to make that mandatory. would you believe he is taking heat for that? >> brian: and,. >> steve: a travel mess thanks to irene, we will have the very latest on the delays coming up. >> brian: coming up. ♪ without that look upon your face ♪ i should have changed that stupid lock ♪ i should have made you leave your key ♪ if i had known for just one second that you would be back to

bother me ♪ walk out the door ♪ just turn around now ♪ because you're not welcome anymore ♪ weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with your --

>> alisyn: if you are headed to the airport today you are going to want to hear this, major travel delays are expected as the major airports deal with log jam following canceling of flights from hurricane irene. joining us from boston's logan airport wfxt. what's the situation there, charmin? >> boy, they are expecting major delays here at logan airport. right now things are kind of quiet inside but there are people who have been waiting for at least 24 hours for one of their flights. of course, everything was cancelled yesterday. we had video of people sleeping on their seats. we can tell you that a lot of

them have been just waiting to get on a flight and they are hoping that if they are first in line they can make it out of here on time today. we talked to plenty of people who say, look, this is a very difficult time to get on a flight right now. we have talked to people who are trying to just get to north carolina from boston and it looks like tomorrow morning is going to be the earliest flight. so, it's a tough time. a lot of students trying to get to college, that sort of thing here at logan airport. >> alisyn: back to you, alisyn. not just logan but ripple effect across the country as a result. share man, thanks so much for the update. let's go over to steve. >> steve: thanks, ali. national push against foreign courts reached the state of michigan which has the largest concentration of muslims in our nation. critics say the bill is a veiled attack against sharia law. >> this bill casts suspicion on our muslim neighbors, on our muslim friends that we have been

living amongst for five generations. taking a community, targeting them, casting suspicion on them and it's completely wrong. >> steve: wait a minute, our next guest says the bill has nothing to do with islam. republican state representative dave edgeman joins us now. he has introduced the bill in michigan. good morning to you, dave. >> good morning. >> steve: what would american laws for american courts do, exactly? >> basically targets any foreign law that is an at&t that to our present federal constitution or state constitution. any foreign law that is brought into our courts that is against our constitution, our liberties would be null and void. >> steve: dave, do we have instances where that has happened in the past? >> there has been about 50 cases in 23 states so far. four states have passed it two have passed it to the house and nine other states are looking at the same thing. i just heard your clip. this has nothing to do with

targeting a particular religion. what it has to do with our secular courts of law. if you are bringing law into the court, we're saying to the judges, which the judicial system has said, that we have a right as legislators to make sure we clarify public policy. so that's what this bill does. it tells the judicial system you will use our constitutional law to determine cases. that's all this does. >> steve: well, you were quoting the sound bite we ran just before you started talking with us this morning. and that particular woman is a muslim lawmaker there from michigan. she says that your proposal goes against the corvallis of accepting people of all races and all walks of life. she says we cannot possibly move forward with this. also, the aclu and other outfits say that this is racist. how do you respond to that? >> how can anything about -- be racist which we are using our

own constitutional or state constitutional law. this bill doesn't mention muslim or sharia law. it does mention in our courts of law, judges, you will use our federal constitution and our state constitution to determine cases. >> steve: right. >> >> that's all that is now, if somebody is believing that this country, and they are here and they like it here and they're living under our constitutional law they should have no problem with this bill. however, if they have an ulterior motive, they want to try to change these laws, then they are going to be very upset with this bill. this does not effect anybody's ability or right to practice their religion. it's just flat not true. >> steve: not like some far fechesd idea it sounds like it has a good opportunity of passing there in michigan. four states have already enacted this kind of legislation. >> that's true. two more, again, like i said have already passed it through the house and 19 other are looking at it the key is we have progressive judges that are

using transnationalism, bringing foreign law into our courts and making decisions based on foreign law which are against our laws and our constitution and our state constitution and federal law. this makes no sense. our laws should be based on our constitution whether it's federal or state. it's as simple as that. >> steve: i'm with you on that. dave agema joining us today from ann arbor, michigan. thanks so much for getting up so early with us today. what do you think about this? irene may have disappeared from the radar screen, biggest threat still to come throughout the northeast. new video of the flooding getting much worse than we had imagined. then, just imagine what these lifeguards were thinking when their command center got swept away. that's it. that little white building right there about to crash into the board walk. ♪ flow with it baby ♪ just flow with it baby ♪

>> alisyn: the storm surge wiped away beaches as well as this tower in long beach. luckily no one was inside. the lifeguardsy not far away watching this all happen. joining us now is jessica, she is a long beach lifeguard. hi, jessica. >> hi. >> alisyn: tell us where you were as the storm was rolling in. >> i was safely in my house watching everything from tv. >> alisyn: good thinking. so as you are watching television, you are seeing your town and the beach that you normally patrol, all of the storm surge coming in there and tell us about what you saw happening to your lifeguard station.

>> basically the water just came up and completely knocked it off the foundation and had it crash into the board walk. >> alisyn: that must have been quite a sight. this is basically your headquarters. tell us what you use this building for. >> yep. basically it's where all the important people are. that's where all the decisions are made and it's basically any time a decision is made, it comes from headquarters. >> alisyn: right. that's where all of your emt's are and all -- the central location where all the calls come in. so, it must have been. >> yep, exactly. >> alisyn: pretty dramatic for you living there and watching this happen to your beach. were any of the lifeguards out in the elements? >> i don't think on sunday but on saturday they did have a crew at headquarters just in case of any emergencies. but i'm pretty sure on sunday everybody was told to stay home

and stay safe. >> alisyn: so what was it like for you, you know, as the storm rolled that your town and watching what was happening to your beach? >> um, it was interesting. i mean, i was more concerned about how it would effect my house and my family, but i mean definitely just looking at the beach now, the landscape has certainly changed. there is no more -- all the lifeguard chairs were completely knocked down by the water. it's pretty crazy to see something like this. i have never seen anything like this before. >> alisyn: yeah. we hadn't either. of course we can see that guy there who looks like a lifeguard or official taking pictures of what's going on. jessica lester, thanks so much for coming in and talking with us. and good luck. >> no problem. >> alisyn: hopefully long beach will be back to normal at some point in the near future. thank you. >> yeah. thank you. >> alisyn: all right. still ahead, frontrunner mitt

romney now defeating the president in crucial battleground -- in the crucial battleground state of florida. is this a sign of things to come? our washington insiders debate the president's prospects in the swing states. and sure, dads do embarrassing things, of course, but how about this? one father braves the floodwaters with one thing in mind, just making his son proud. ♪ cut loose ♪ foot loose ♪ town is wiped out.

we have live team coverage from around the east coast for you next. >> and now